USA > Maine > Androscoggin County > History of Androscoggin County, Maine > Part 6
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By this time emigration was large to these new settlements, but many of the projectors and merchant adventurers, who had furnished the means for ships and stores, outfits of cattle and building materials, with necessary supplies for the colonists, began to despair of adequate or any return from the vast sums they had expended, and in 1634 Gorges and Mason became possessed of all the interest of their associates, and, dividing their joint property, confined their individual labors, the one to the northerly and the other to the southerly side of the Piscataqua. The Plymouth Council was now doomed. Gorges was again summoned before the House of Commons to show cause why the charter should not be revoked. With unanswerable arguments presented with brilliant eloquence he defended the Council and its measures. In his argument he said: "Yes, I have spent £20,000 of my estate, and thirty years,
1 On account of the attempt to found a purely agricultural colony, and from the name of the first vessel bringing emigrants, this was later known as the Plough patent.
2 This reached, it is supposed, to Casco bay on the south, and was the cause of long and bitter con- troversy with the Pejepscot proprietors, not settled until 1814.
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the flower of my whole life, in new discoveries and settlements upon a remote continent, in the enlargement of my country's commerce and dominions, and in carrying civilization and Christianity into regions of savages." All in vain. Williamson says:
Never probably had the discouragements of Gorges and Mason bordered more nearly on despair. The charges of establishing a plantation in a wilderness they found to be three-fold its worth. The planters, being hired servants or tenants, were often indolent and wasteful ; and the fruits of their whole labor would not yield them a tolerable support. No superintendent could control their erratic dispositions, or prevent their changes of abode from place to place. The proprietors had never visited the country, nor established a regular efficient government for the punishment of offenders or the preservation of order. The French were making encroachments and committing mischief; the Indians were rest- less, if not unfriendly ; and to crown all, a violent, unnatural warfare had commenced between king and people at home.
Before it relinquished its charter the Plymouth Council drew lots, February 3, 1635, "in presence of his Majesty," for the ownership of the twelve Grand Divisions into which they divided their patent. The first division was called the "County of Canada," included the Muscongus grant and the eastern portion of the Pemaquid and Kennebee patents; the second was a small division -from Pemaquid to Sagadahoe; the third stretched from the Kennebee to the Androseoggin, taking in the west half of the Kennebec patent, a part of old Laconia, and a part of Gorges and Mason's first grant; the fourth division extended from Sagadahoe to Piscataqua, embracing Lygonia, Saco, and Agamen- ticus (the third and fourth divisions were assigned to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and became New Somersetshire); the fifth extended from the Piscataqua to Naumkeag river, and from the sea to a line sixty miles north of the mouths of those rivers, a part of the Isle of Shoals, and Masonia, which took 10,000 acres on the eastern side of Sagadahoe at its mouth (this was assigned to John Mason); the sixth extended from Naumkeag river around the seacoast by Cape Cod to Narragansett; the seventh "was the territory eastward of a monumental boundary to be set up at a place equi-distant from Narragansett and Connecticut river extending fifty miles into the country "; the eighth reached from this to-be-erected monument to the Connecticut, and also extended fifty miles back; the ninth reached from the Connecticut to the Hudson, running thirty miles baek; the tenth was a parallelogram forty miles deep between these last mentioned rivers immediately above the ninth division; the eleventh was on the west bank of the Hudson from the fortieth parallel of latitude, extending thirty miles into the country, and the twelfth, thirty miles on the river by forty miles in depth, lay directly above the eleventh division.
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The Plymouth Council resigned its patent to the king April 25, 1635, " reserving all grants by us made, and all vested rights." Sir Ferdinando Gorges was later commissioned royal governor-general of New England, but never came here.
Believing himself possessed of the same authority in government that the Plymouth Council had exercised, so far as New Somersetshire was concerned, Gorges sent his nephew, William Gorges, a man of manifest ability, as governor of the province. He established at Saco, March 28, 1636, the first organized court within the limits of Maine. William Gorges did not stay but about two years, and the settlers of New Somersetshire, as well as those of New Hampshire, looked yearningly on the protection to individual rights afforded by the strong, wise, and systematic government of Massachusetts.
April 3, 1639, a new charter was granted, conveying uncommon powers, and covering the territory "beginning at the mouth of the Piscataqua, and going up that river through Newichawannock and Salmon Falls river north- westward one hundred and twenty miles; from Piscataqua harbor northeast- wards along the seacoast to Sagadahock; thence through that river and the Kennebeck northwestward one hundred and twenty miles; thence over land to the utmost northerly end of the line first mentioned; including the north half of the Isle of Shoals, and the islands Capawock and Nautican near Cape Cod; also all the islands and inlets within five leagues of the main, along the coasts between the said rivers Piscataqua and Sagadahock." This territory was granted to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and incorporated as the Province, or County of Maine. A vigorous government with courts was at once established, the city of Georgeana (Gorgeana) erected out of the borough of Agamenticus, which city for more than ten years exercised civic authority in a very useful manner. The settlements and governments of Gorges were conducted with Episcopalianism as the established religious faith, and under royal favor, while the rapidly growing province of Massachusetts was under dissenting faith and more in favor of free institutions and the rights of the people.
In 1651 Massachusetts laid claim to a portion of Maine, and as Gorges's government had failed to satisfy many of the inhabitants of Maine, they sought to submit themselves to Massachusetts. Before this (1639) Purchase had assigned the Pejepscot grant to the Massachusetts government, to secure its aid and protection. By degrees the jurisdiction over Maine, commencing with a limited territory in the southwest part, extended eastward, until by 1660 it embraced the whole coast district to Passamaquoddy. In 1662 the king confirmed the charter of Massachusetts, but in 1664 he issued an order to the governor and council of Massachusetts requiring them to restore the Province of Maine to Ferdinando Gorges, the grandson of Sir Ferdinando Gorges. Royal commissioners were sent to re-instate the government of Gorges, but the old order of things returned in a few years, and Massachusetts was the only stable
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HISTORY OF ANDROSCOGGIN COUNTY.
power to which the people could look for protection amid the dangers of the French and Indian war then in progress. So Massachusetts was encouraged to maintain her hold, and May 6, 1677, through its agent, John Usher, it purchased all the rights of Gorges for £1,250. A grave doubt arose concerning the powers acquired by Massachusetts by this purchase, and assuming ownership only to be conferred, the District of Maine was created and a governor appointed. From this time until the separation - 1820 - Maine was under the proprietor- ship of Massachusetts.
CHAPTER VI.
THE PEJEPSCOT CLAIM.
BY J. G. ELDER.
Thomas Purchase - Purchase and Way's Patent - Assignment to Governor Winthrop - Richard Wharton - The Six Indian Sagamores's Deed - Pejepscot Proprietors - Definition of Territory.
P EJEPSCOT CLAIM .- Thomas Purchase settled on the Pejepscot, 1 now the Androscoggin river, about 1628. The precise time as well as the exact location are not known. It was undoubtedly within the present limits of the town of Brunswick. Subsequently, it has been asserted, he lived at Lisbon Falls. Purchase was a farmer and trader, and carried on an exten- sive fur and peltry trade with the Indians. He has been charged with taking advantage of the natives in various ways, but chiefly in the sale of intoxicating drinks. One old warrior of the Amonoscoggin tribe "once complained that he had given an hundred Pounds for Water drawn out of Mr Purchase his Well." In 1632 the Council for New England granted to Thomas Purchase and George Way of Dorchester, England, certain lands on " Bishoppscotte " river, which unquestionably included the territory occupied by Purchase. Way probably never occupied any of the land covered by the grant, and it is very doubtful if he ever visited this country, though his widow and sons afterwards resided in Hartford, Conn. Purchase conveyed to Governor Winthrop, in 1639, his land at Pejepscot, reserving the portion occupied and improved by himself.
1 Pejepscot, according to Dr True, comes from Pequomsque, in the Algonquin language meaning "it is crooked."
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Within the limits of this patent Purchase lived and continued actively in business until the first Indian war, known as King Philip's War, 1675-6, when his buildings were destroyed and his family driven away. This was probably in September, 1675. Purchase's loss was estimated at one thousand pounds. It is said he was at Boston at the time, and had engaged passage in Captain Walley's ship for London. There is no evidence that he returned to his home on the Androscoggin. He died in Lynn, Mass., May 1, 1678. His will was dated May 2, 1677, and probated June 4, 1678. One-third of his estate was left to his wife, Elizabeth, and the other two-thirds to his five children, Thomas, Jane, Elizabeth, Abraham, and Sarah. His widow married John Blany of Lynn, November, 1679.
Richard Wharton, a Boston merchant, an Englishman by birth and educa- tion, conceived the plan of establishing a " manor " after the style of English gentlemen, and for that purpose bought, July 4, 1683, of the heirs of Purchase and Way the land covered by their patent of 1632, as well as lands bought by Purchase of the Indian sagamores. In this purchase of Wharton was included the claim of John Shapleigh. The price paid the Purchase heirs was one hundred and fifty pounds, thirty of which was paid down and the remainder was to be paid when the heirs furnished a copy of the patent given to Purchase and Way. There can be no doubt but the copy of the patent was produced, for we find him, in 1687, making payments on account of his purchase, satisfied with the "conformation he had obtained in right of said Purchase and Way for said patent." Wharton's claim included the whole of Harpswell, except a few islands, the greater part of Brunswick, and a part of Topsham. But this tract of land, extensive as it was, did not satisfy the Englishman's manorial ideas, for he sought and obtained from Worombee and five other sagamores of the Androscoggin tribe, a large tract of land on both sides of the Androscoggin river and extending to the "uppermost falls in said Androscoggin river."
THE SIX INDIAN SAGAMORES'S DEED TO RICHARD WHARTON. - To all People to whom these Presents shall come ; Know yee that whereas near threescore years since Mr Thomas Purchase dec'd came into this Country as we have been well informed and did as well by Power or Pattent derived from the King of England as by Consent, Contract and Agreement with Sagamores and Proprietors of all the Lands lying on the Easterly side of Casco-bay, and on the both sides of Androscoggin River and Kennebeck River enter upon and take Possession of all the Lands lying four Miles westward from the uppermost Falls on said Androscoggin River to Maquoit in Casco-bay, and on the Lands on the other side Androscoggin River from above said Falls down to Pejepscott and Merrymeeting Bay to be bounded by a Southwest and Northeast Line to run from the upper part of said Falls to Kennebeck River, and all the Land from Maquoit to Pejepscott and to hold the same Breadth where the Land will bear it down to a Place callet Atkins's Bay near to Sagadehoc on the Westerly side of Kennebeck River: And all the Islands in the said Kennebeck
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River and Land between the said Atkins's Bay, and Small Point Harbour the Lands & Rivers, and Ponds interjacent containing therein Breadth about three English Miles more or less. And Whereas we are well assured that Major Nicholas Shapleigh in his life time was both by Purchase from the Indians Sagamores, our Ancestors and Consent of Mr Gorge's Commissioners possessed and dyed seized of the remainder of the Lands lying and Adjoyning upon the Main and all the Islands between the said Small Point harbour and Maquoit aforesaid ; and particularly of a Neck of Land called Merryconeeg, and an Island called Sebasco : degin. And whereas the Relict and Heirs of said Mr Purchase, and Major Nicholas Shapleigh have reserved Accommodations for their several Families, sold all the remainder of the aforesaid Lands and Islands to Richard Wharton of Boston Merchant, and forasmuch as the said Mr Purchase did personally possess improve and inhabit at Pejepscott aforesaid near the Centre or middle of all the Lands aforesaid for near Fifty years before the late unhappy war; and whereas the said Richard Wharton hath desired an Enlargement upon and between the said Androscoggin & Kennebeck River; and to encourage the said Richard Wharton to settle an English Town and promote the Salmon and Sturgeon Fishery by which we promise ourselves great supplies, and Relief. Therefore and for other good Causes and Considerations and especially for and in consideration of a Valuable Sum received from the said Wharton in Merchandize : We Warumbee Derumkine Wehikermell Wedon-Domhegon, Neonongassett, and Wimbanewett chief Sagamores of all the aforesaid, and other Rivers & Lands adjacent have in confirmation of the said Richard Wharton's Title and Property fully freely and absolutely Given Granted Ratifyed and Confirmed to him the said Richard Wharton all the aforesaid Lands from the uppermost part of Androscoggin Falls four miles Westward and so down to Maquoit and by said River of Pejepscott; and from the other side of Androscoggin Falls, all the Lands from the Falls to Pejepseot and Merrymeeting Bay to Kennebeck and towards the Wilderness to be bounded by a Southwest and Northeast Line to extend from the upper part of the said Androscoggin uppermost Falls to the said River of Kennebeck; and all the Lands from Maquoit to Pejepscott, and so to run and hold the same Breadth where the Land will bear it unto Atkins's Bay in Kennebeck River and Small Point Harbour in Casco-bay; and all Islands in Kennebeek & Pejepscott Rivers and Merrymeeting Bay and within the aforesaid Bounds especially the aforesaid Neck of Land called Merryconeeg, and Island called Sebaseo-degin together with all Rivers, Rivoletts, Brooks, Ponds Pools Waters Water- courses; all Woods Trees of Timber, or other Trees, and all Mines, Minerals, Quarries, and especially the Sole and absolute use and benefitt of Salmon and Sturgeon fishing in all the Rivers Rivuletts or Bays aforesaid ; and in all Rivers Brooks Creeks or Ponds within any of the Bounds aforesaid : And also We the said Sagamore's have upon the consideration aforesaid Given Granted Bargained and sold Enfeoffed and Confirmed, and Do by these presents Give Grant Bargain & Sell Aliene Enfeoffe and Confirm unto him the said Richard Wharton all the Lands lying five miles above the Uppermost of the said Androscoggin falls in Breadth and Length holding the same Breadth from Androscoggin falls to Kennebeck River, and to be bounded by the aforesaid Southwest and Northeast Line and a parcell of Land at Five Miles distance to run from Androscoggin to Kennebeck River as aforesaid. Together with all Profitts, Priviledges Commodities Benefitts and Advantages, and particularly to the Sole propriety Benefitt and Advantage of the Salmon and Sturgeon fishing within the Bounds and Limitts aforesaid. To Have and to Hold, to him the said Richard Wharton his heirs and Assigns for ever all the aforenamed Lands Priviledges and Premisses withal Benefitts Rights Apurtenances, or Advantages that now or hereafter shall or may belong unto any part or parcell of the Premisses fully freely and absolutely acquitted and discharged from all former & other Gifts Grants Bargains Sales Mortgages and
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inenmbranees whatsoever. And we the said Warumbee, Darumkin, Wehikermett, Wedon Domhegon, Neonongassett, and Nimbanewett Do covenant and grant to and with the said Richd Wharton that we have in ourselves good Right & full power thus to confirm and convey the Premisses: and that we our heirs and successors shall and will Warrant and Defend the Richard Wharton his heirs and assigns forever in the Peaceable Enjoyment of the Premisses and every part thereof against all & every Person or Persons that may legally claim any Rights, Title Interest or Property in the Premisses by from or under us the abovenamed Sagamores, or any of our Ancestors. Provided nevertheless that Nothing in this Deed be construed to Deprive us the said Sagamores Successors or People from improving our Antient Planting Grounds: nor from hunting in any of said Lands being not enclosed; Nor from Fishing for our own Provision so long as no damage shall be to the English fishery. Provided also that nothing herein contained shall prejudice any of the English Inhabitants or Planters being at present actually possessed of any part of the Premisses and legally deriving Right from said Mr Purchase and or Ancestors. In Witness whereof we the aforenamed Sagamores well understanding the Purport hereof do set to our hands & Seals at Pejepscott the Seventh day of July in the Thirty fifth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King Charles the Second One thousand six hundred Eighty four.
In presence of us
The Mark of Warumbee
W and a seal
John Blaney
The Mark of Darumkin
and a seal
James Andrews
The Mark of Wehikermett
and a seal
Henry Waters
The Mark of Wedon Domhegon
and a seal
John Parker
The Mark of Neonongassett
and a seal
George Felt
The Mark of Nimbanewett
and a seal
Memorandum That upon the Day of the Date within written Deed the several Sagamores whose Names are Subscribed thereto and inserted therein did at the Fort of Pejepscott deliver quiet and Peaceable Possession of the Premisses with Livery & Seizin to Mr John Blaney and his Wife. Mr John Blaney & his Wife in their own Right as she is administratrix to the Estate of Mr Thomas Purchase deceased; and in Right of his Children also the said Mr Blaney as attorney to Mr Eleazer Way did the same day deliver quiet and peaceable possession with Livery & Seizin of the Premisses to Mr Richard Wharton the Quantity of Seven hundred Acres of Land being excepted according to a former Agreement
Henry Waters John Parker
Taken upon Oath this 19th day of July 1684 this was sworn to by John Parker Before me Edward Tyng Justice o' peace
James Andrews aged about forty nine Years testifyeth upon Oath that he saw this Deed or Instrument Sealed and delivered by the six Sagamores within named to Mr Richard Wharton and saw John Parker and George Felt the other Witnesses subscribe as Witnesses as now they are on the Indorsement above.
Sworn before me this 21 July 1684 Edward Tyng Justice O' Peace
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HISTORY OF ANDROSCOGGIN COUNTY.
Falmouth in Casco-bay July 21. 1684
Warumnbee the Sagamore within named this day appeared before me and in behalf of himself and other Sagamores that Sealed & Delivered the within written Instrument acknowledged the same to be his and their free and Voluntary Act & Deed
Edward Tyng Justice O' Peace.
John Parker of Kennebeck aged about Fifty years deposeth that he saw this Deed Signed Sealed & delivered by the Several Sagamores within named And he saw possession together with Livery and Seizin of the Premisses as is expressed in the other indorsement on this Deed and in presence of the several Witnesses thereto Subscribing: And further the Deponent saith that upon the Eleventh of this instant month he with Mr Henry Waters were present and Saw Warumbee deliver Possession and Livery and Seizin by a Turf & Twig and Bottle of Water taken by himself of the Land and out of the main River above Androscoggin Falls to Richard Wharton in full Complyance with a Conveyance of the premisses within granted and Confirmd.
Taken upon Oath the 9th of July 1684. Before me Edward Tyng Justice O' Peace.
Shortly after this transfer Wharton sailed for England for the purpose of securing from the crown a recognition of his claim and the authority to establish a manor in the then "Province of Mayne." But this magnificent enterprise failed, Wharton having died (May, 1689,) before the proper authority could be obtained.
Pejepscot Company .- Four years after the death of Wharton, administra- tion de bonis non on his estate was granted December 30, 1693, to Ephraim Savage of Boston, and four years later the Superior Court at Boston authorized and empowered Savage to sell the estate in order to liquidate the debts. Acting in accordance with the authority given him by the Court, Savage sold, on November 5, 1714, the whole of Wharton's elaim on the Pejepscot to Thomas Hutchins, Adam Winthrop, John Watts, David Jefferies, Stephen Minot, Oliver Noyes, John Buck, and John Wenthworth, for one hundred and forty pounds. These persons constituted the original Pejepscot Company, taking the name of the river below the " Twenty-Mile Falls." In the early part of the next year the proprietors submitted to the General Court of Massachusetts Bay a series of propositions relating to their claim and its settlement, and on the tenth of June, 1715, the General Court passed resolu- tions in accordance therewith, giving validity to their title and accepting the propositions submitted. By this act the Company became the undoubted legal owners of the land they had purchased.
Notwithstanding this recognition of their title by the General Court, controversies soon arose in regard to the limits of their claim. This question was forced upon them by the Plymouth Company who had a patent for lands on the Kennebec river. The question of boundaries is most important. The descriptions of the old patents are very obscure and often indefinite.
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Frequently they overlap each other, and occasionally the latter completely covers the former one. The bounds given to Purchase and Way are explicit in one direction, and Purchase, in his conveyance to Massachusetts, gives the limits in another ; and there could be no doubt about Nicholas Shapleigh's claim, as it was bounded by Purchase's claim and the " sea." But that which occasioned the greatest controversy was the description of the Warumbee deed which included the above grants, but much more. The contest became intense, and the rival corporations pushed their claims with tireless energy. If the Pejepscot Company could not extend their bounds on the south and east beyond the limits of the grants made to Purchase and Shapleigh, they were undoubtedly entitled to more on the north and west. The deed covered "all the aforesaid lands from the uppermost part of Androscoggin Falls," four miles westward, and so down to Maquoit, and on the other side of the river from the same falls to the Kennebec, on a line running southwest and northeast.
The Pejepscot proprietors, as early as February, 1758, appointed a committee to carry into execution the "divisional line," who reported four years later " that they had exchanged proposals with the Plymouth Company " for the purpose of establishing the line between these conflicting claims ; but the committee could not agree "where to fix the mouth of said Cathance river." In 1766 a settlement was made which recognized the southern line of Bowdoinham and the Kennebec river as the "divisional line " between the rival companies. The northern line was, however, unsettled. The Massachusetts Legislature, March 8, 1787, passed a resolution which declared: "That the Twenty Miles Falls, so called, in Androscoggin river, being about twenty miles from Brunswick Great Falls, should be called the Uppermost Great Falls in Androscoggin river, referred to in the deed from Warumbee and five other Indian Sagamores, confirming the right of Richard Wharton and Thomas Purchase, executed July seventh, in the year of our Lord 1684, in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of King Charles the second."
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